Friday, August 15, 2008

Beyond Me - Part 8: Interview with Kathi Macias

Continuing the interview with Kathi Macias, author of the new book Beyond Me: Living a You-First Life in a Me-First World (New Hope, 2008):

In chapter 7 you talked about the different jobs of the Three Persons of the Godhead: God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This was new and interesting to me. Can you briefly recap the differences in the work of God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit?

KM: We hear a lot about the Trinity in Christendom, and indeed cannot truly be called a Christian without accepting that basic tenet of the faith. However, what does that mean? How does a three-in-One God work together and manifest Himself to us?

My first understanding of the Trinity was as a child, sitting in a Lutheran church with some neighbors who had graciously brought me along, and seeing a three-leaf clover on the front of the cloth draping the pulpit. The pastor explained that just as each of the leaves was a distinct and separate leaf, they were all part of the same clover. It was a simple explanation, but it made sense to me.

In Beyond Me I give one of many examples of how the Trinity works together as One. God the Father spoke to His people (Israel) through His servant, Moses, giving them the Torah (later interpreted “Law”) as a guideline for right living and right relationship. God the Son then came and fully/rightly interpreted Torah for the Jewish people, since it had been misinterpreted and misused by some of those who were supposed to understand it and explain it to the common people. Finally, God the Holy Spirit came to enable people to walk according to the full meaning of the Scriptures, given by the Father and accurately lived and modeled by God the Son.

The Trinity always works together as One.

3 comments:

Adam Pastor said...

Greetings Diane E. Butts

On the subject of the trinity,
I recommend this video:
The Human Jesus

Take a couple of hours to watch it; and prayerfully it will aid you to reconsider "The Trinity"

Yours In Messiah
Adam Pastor

Adam Pastor said...

Oops! Sorry mispelt your name,
Dianne. :-(

Cheryl said...

Even when I teach my Sunday School children now, I use the triangle with God the Father at the top point and Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit on the sides that I learned in Catholic school.

The Trinity is a difficult concept for young people to grasp and the visual helps a bit. We've recently spoken again to the children in our AWANA program about this topic and they had an excellent way to help explain the Trinity as well.

Thanks for this great interview series, Dianne. Having read Kathi's book, I know how powerful it is. I hope my church agrees to read it as a group, as it will help all of us grow in our faith in Christ.

Cheryl